Attempted Resolution and Racemization of Beckmann‐Derived CTV‐Lactam and the Use of Chirabite‐AR® to Determine the Optical Purity of the Supramolecular Scaffold

Chirabite‐AR was employed to differentiate enantiomers of the axially chiral cyclotriveratrylene (CTV)‐derived macrocyclic lactam with baseline separation of most of the proton NMR resonances enabling enantiomeric purity determination of this supramolecular scaffold. Attachment of menthyloxy acetic acid as a chiral auxiliary to the CTV‐Beckmann derived lactam afforded diastereomers that were enriched to a ratio of 87:13, as confirmed by both 1H NMR and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Basic hydrolysis of the enriched diastereomeric mixture proceeded with rapid bowl inversion to yield racemic CTV‐lactam as confirmed by Chirabite‐AR NMR analysis. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations (M06 2X/6‐31G*) were performed on the crown and saddle conformers of the CTV‐lactam.